231: Resolution on the right to adequate housing and protection from forced evictions

The
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) meeting at its
52nd Ordinary Session held from 9 to 22 October 2012 in Yamoussoukro,
Côte d’Ivoire;

Considering its mandate to promote human and
peoples’ rights under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the
African Charter);

Recalling that the right to
housing is protected by the African Charter under Articles 14 (the right to
property), 16 (the right to highest attainable standard of mental and physical
health) and 18(1) (protection accorded to the family), as affirmed in the
Commission’s Principles
and Guidelines to Interpret Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Africa;

Furtherrecalling Article 16 of the Protocol to the African Charter on the
Rights of Women in Africa which obligates States to ensure access of women to
adequate housing;

Noting that States obligations in relation to
the right to adequate housing were affirmed in 2001 by the Commission in Communication 155/96-Social and Economic
Rights Actions Centre and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights (SERAC) v.
Nigeria;

Further notingthat the right to adequate
housing is protected under Article 11 of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, Articles 16(1) and 27(4) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Art 5 (e) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, Article 14(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women, and Articles 9 and 28 of the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and that forced evictions violate these
provisions;

Bearing
in mind
that as part of their obligations to respect and protect the right to adequate
housing, States Parties are required to refrain from and prevent forced
evictions, including by private actors;

Recalling that the United Nations Commission on Human
Rights has recognised that forced evictions constitute gross violations of a
range of human rights, in particular the right to adequate housing;

Recognising that a minimum degree of
security of tenure, including protection from forced evictions, is essential
for people to realise their right of access to adequate housing to meet the basic
need of a decent livelihood;

Concerned that each year hundreds of
thousands of people in Africa are forcibly evicted from their homes by States
and other non-state actors, without prior consultation and notice, adequate
compensation or appropriate alternative housing solution;

Noting with concern that forced evictions
also lead to violations of other economic, social and cultural rights, such as
access to drinking water, stable employment, health care and education;

Further
concerned that women, children and other vulnerable groups suffer
disproportionately from forced evictions and their effects;

Concerned by the inadequate reporting by Member
States on the measures taken towards meeting their obligation to ensure the
right to housing and legal protection of people from forced and arbitrary evictions;

Condemns forced evictions;

Urges all States Parties to the African Charter to take appropriate
steps to ensure respect, protection and realisation of the right to adequate housing,
in particular by:

I.
Putting
an end to all forms of forced evictions, in particular evictions carried out
for development purposes;

II.
Ensuring
that evictions are only carried out as a last resort after all alternatives to
eviction have been provided and that all evictions comply with international
and regional standards;

III.
Adopting
legislative and other measures to ensure that legal procedures are complied
with prior to any eviction and making available remedies that are likely to
result in the right to reparation either in the form of restitutio in
integrum or monetary compensation;

IV.
Taking
concrete measures to confer security of tenure to all people lacking such protection,
with prior and informed consent of the
affected people;

V.
Ensuring
that any alternative housing provided to people complies with international and
regional standards on the right to adequate housing.

Adopted at the 52nd Ordinary Session of the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights held in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire,
from 9 to 22 October 2012